Resolution: Take transit away from GDOT
BY Ken Edelstein • March 11, 2010
Even conservative heavy hitters in the Georgia Legislature are getting fed up with the state Department of Transportation’s failure to produce a balanced transportation system.
Maria Saporta reports on what she calls “a pretty amazing resolution … that basically describes the Georgia Department of Transportation as incompetent when it comes to developing anything other than highways, roads and bridges.” The resolution calls for transferring “other methods of transportation” to the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.
Maria notes that …
Senate Resolution 1177 was introduced by some of the top senators in the state — Sen. Jeff Mullis (R – Chickamauga) who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee; Sen. Chip Rogers (R – Woodstock); Sen. Tommie Williams (R – Lyons); and Sen. Doug Stoner (D – Smyrna) among others.
Because of GDOT’s inability to develop alternative transportation modes, the resolution calls for the transfer of the Intermodal Division to the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.
The proposal follows a recent series of embarrassing announcements in which neighboring states acquired federal grants for high-speed rail and other projects, while Georgia received what could politely be described as crumbs. The state DOT has had various passenger rail projects in the planning stages since the 1980s, but has managed to avoid construction of even a foot of those plans during that time.
There’s a copy of the resolution at SaportaReport.
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There is no question that GDOT is a highway focused agency. But this is mainly because the Governor and legislature are highway focused. Look at GDOT’s budget – $2 billion in an average year, of which 1/2 comes from state the motor fuel tax, which is constitutionally required to be spent on roads and bridges. The other 1/2 comes back from the fed, and for the most part, it is required to go to the same road and bridge facilities.
The state’s intermodal budget is a pittance compared to this – less than $20 million/year. And the reason it is that much is because it’s the only way to match the federal dollars coming down from the federal transit administration. Why is funding so low? Because the governor and legislature must support intermodal out of the state’s general fund, and it’s not a priority to them. The Governor holds it over their heads annually, threatening to zero-out intermodal in the budget, which would make it almost impossible to fund any positions in GDOT intermodal, much less produce projects.
This is just a continuation of this atrocity of a governor and his power grab at GDOT. He has no say over motor fuel tax, so he’s trying to take whatever power he can. State Planning Director – check. Shorten Board terms, move intermodal etc.
Again, it’s not GDOT. They’ve tried and Sonny has said NO!